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Vancouver International Women in Film Screenplay Competition announces 2017 Official Selections

VIWIFF International Screenplay Competition founder Michelle Muldoon and jurist Bill Hurst at the 2016 Vancouver International Women in Film Festival.

By Joan Macbeth

The starting point for every great film is a well-written script. The VIWIFF International Screenplay Competition, in its third year, welcomed screenplays from women writers all over the world. Judging was based on a number of criteria, including story composition, scene construction, set-up and pay-off, imagery, character development, formatting, dialogue, and originality. Thanks to our esteemed jury for volunteering their time: Angela Crosato, Mia Divac, Sasha Duncan, Bill Hurst, Dee LeBlanc, Jenny Siddle and Kelly Tatham.

The philosophy of the competition is to replicate a professional experience for the writers, as much as possible. When submitting a script to producers, managers or agents, many times a writer’s success is based on the first few pages of the script. We allow up to 30 pages for the initial read, plus a synopsis, for the jury to decide if the script should advance to the second round. All of our judges are professional story analysts, with the same type of training you might find in the industry “gatekeepers” who make the initial decision on whose screenplays will move up the ladder. For the more advanced screenwriter, our objective is to garner for them industry attention and recognition for excellent writing.

For the ten Official Selections, WIFTV provides a prize package that includes a festival pass to VIWIFF 2017, and an opportunity to attend pitch meetings offered during the festival. For the top three finalists, to be announced just before the festival, additional prizes include a downloadable copy of Final Draft software, and an InkTip listing. The first place Grand Prize Winner receives a cash prize of $250.

Women in Film and Television Vancouver

Established in 1989, Women in Film + Television Vancouver Society (WIFTV) is an internationally affiliated non-profit society committed to advancing and celebrating women in screen-based media. We are the Vancouver chapter of Women In Film + Television International (WIFTI), which counts more than 10,000 members world-wide.﻿

Over the years, the support WIFTV has received from our members has brought our Women in Film Festival, workshops, and networking events to life. Membership fees help to ensure that our office can continue to support these programs, as well as our Spotlight Awards, the VIFF Artistic Merit Award, and the Whistler Film Festival Industry Mentorship Award, all of which promote and recognize women in the screen-based media industry.

Membership is open to all women working in the screen-based media industry, women not actively working in the industry, and men. We encourage representation from all the creative, technical, administrative, and service fields that sustain our lively production community.